Tenshi
by ButterflyMiko
Summary: Being the tale of Castiel the angel, his origins, his imprisonment, and his search for freedom. This is also the tale of the maiden and warriors that freed the Angel of Tears and Watcher of Human from his designated realm. Another way to tell a story that we all know and love. Join me?
1. Birth

Gabriel sighed as he looked around at all of his brothers and sisters.

Something was...missing!

"Gabe, we all know what it is you want." Balthazar said lazily fluttering past. "Just ask Father—"

"I can't ask him." Gabriel said. "He wouldn't understand."

"You could always ask Amara." Balthazar said.

Now there was an idea. Amara was more open-minded than Chuck was, maybe she could help.

Without another word, Gabriel fluttered off to see his Aunt.

Xxx

"I see." Amara said. "You want me to create an angel. Well strictly this will be my first time, seeing as Chuck made the angels. I think...I'll give him something special."

Amara molded grace and a human soul into a small fledgling form.

"Castiel. The angel with both grace, and a soul." Amara smiled and handed him to Gabriel.

Xxx

Gabriel brought Cass out to see his siblings.

As he was passed around, all the angels oohing and ahhing over the adorable fledgling, Castiel merely yawned and waved his tiny hands.

Even Lucifer was absolutely gaga for the little one, tickling him and making him burp little grace-bubbles.

It was obvious that this little angel was going to change everything.


	2. Imprisonment

Castiel was five years old when the maenads came for him. It feels so long ago now, a dream within a dream. When Castiel was young Castiel put so much energy into forgetting, but now Castiel wish Castiel could remember more. When Castiel close his eyes to dream, sometimes Castiel can still hear Gabriel's weeping.

They came for him on the eave of his fifth birthday. Castiel ought to have been in bed, but Castiel was too excited to sleep. His birthday fell right in the middle of the first harvest festival. Gabriel was going to take him to see the king's tourney. Castiel'd never been to a tourney before. Gabriel said there would be great bonfires and sweet meats, and dancing...

They were poor, Gabriel and Castiel, an angel and a fledgling, but Gabriel wanted to make his fifth birthday something special, and Castiel imagine... it would have been.

They never made it to the king's tourney. As Castiel sat by the fire playing with his wooden knights, there was a loud knocking at the door. Castiel watched Gabriel reach for the door handle and carefully peer outside. Castiel saw his face change. Gabriel's eyes widened, his lips quivered.

Castiel was afraid. Castiel lost interest in his toys and watched the door.

"Open up!" Castiel heard a deep voice. "In the name of the crown, let us in!"

Gabriel stepped back and Castiel hid behind a chair.

There was a great deal whispering and sometimes shouting. Gabriel cried out. Castiel didn't understand what was happening at the time, but Castiel would understand soon enough.

"Where is the child?" Castiel heard a woman say. Castiel couldn't see her face. She was wearing a heavy hooded cloak and the only part of her that was visible to him, were two long thick strands of silver hair. Pretty. Even though Castiel was scared, Castiel was also curious. Castiel trusted Gabriel... So Castiel poked his head out from behind the chair and waved his fingers timidly at the cloaked woman.

"What a beautiful child," the woman said in a stunned voice.

"There are none like him," Gabriel agree, sounding at once both proud and sorrowful. "He looks like his father."

"And he was created within the witching hour, on the tenth of July?"

"Yes," Gabriel wept.

The woman sounded most pleased when she spoke next. "Within the same hour as the prince. How unusual, most auspicious. It's too perfect to be real. You aren't lying to me, are you?"

"I am not..."

"It's true," Castiel spoke up. Castiel was excited to talk about his birthday. "Tomorrow's my birthday. We're going to the king's tourney! You're a pretty lady... do you want to see my toys. Gabriel _made_ them."

"He speaks very clearly," the man, a soldier, spoke for the first time since he and his hooded women intruded into our home. He had a funny face, one that Castiel could only describe as _mean_ at the time. Castiel glared at him with all his childish fury. Castiel did not like him. He had a mean face and he was a mean man. He had _shouted_ at Gabriel.

"I'm very smart," Castiel had the gall to say.

"I'm sure you are..."

The woman turned to him then and to his surprise and fear she lowered her hood. Her hair spilled out in waves. She had large pale eyes. Young as Castiel was, Castiel could still tell that she was blind. She was blind and yet she'd found him quite easily. She was starring right at him. Castiel felt chilled, as if she was looking _inside_ of him. "He is a fool," she said. "But we will teach him."

"So... you are taking him?"

Taking him... _Taking him? _This woman and her soldier were going to _take _him?

"Where are we going?" Castiel asked, voice trembling.

The woman knelt before him and held him with both of her hands on his shoulders. Again, Castiel felt those vacant eyes on him. "Castiel," she said. "You are a _very _special child. You can't stay here with Gabriel anymore." Castiel began to cry. "You're needed by the _king_."

The king? Why did the king need _him_? "The king doesn't need me," Castiel said, wet faced and trembling. "I'm just a little fledgling. I'm too small to be a knight..."

"You're not going to be a knight," the woman soothed. "You're going to be like _me_."

"What are you?" Castiel asked. "Are you a _witch_?"

"No, child. I am a shrine maiden of Elysion, the capital of the world. And if you study hard and do everything you are told, someday... Someday you will be a great priest, perhaps the greatest we have ever seen." She stood up and reached for her soldier who supported her and walked her to his Gabriel's chair. "The king has a son exactly your age," she said. "You've heard of Prince Cain, and his brother Abel?"

"Of course I have. Everyone knows about the prince." Castiel was offended that she even had to ask. Castiel wasn't stupid. Castiel wasn't a fool... Castiel looked for Gabriel. He was sitting on the floor crying into his hands. Castiel didn't like it when he cried. Castiel didn't want to go with those people. Castiel walked to Gabriel and sat in his lap. "Stop crying, Gabriel. I'm not going. They can pick someone else."

Gabriel peaked at him past the cracks in his fingers. He stopped crying. Castiel almost smiled, but he pushed him, then, knocking him back. "Take him away!" He screamed. "Do it now! Do it before I change my mind!"

He ran into his room and slammed the door shut. Castiel heard it lock. Castiel heard Gabriel crying. Castiel banged on the door but he wouldn't talk to him. It wasn't fair!

"Gabriel! Gabriel! I don't want to go! Don't let them take me! Don't you love me? Gabriel!" The soldier plucked him up and threw him over his shoulder. Castiel threw his fists. Castiel kicked with his legs. It was all pointless. He was a soldier, possibly even a knight... and Castiel was only a fledgling, a weak fledgling at that.

They tied his hands together, to keep him from hitting, then Castiel was given a cloak and instructed that Castiel was _never_ under any circumstances to let anyone outside the temple see his face. It was an unusual rule, but Castiel didn't dare question it.

They mounted their horses, the lovely shrine maiden on a horse of white, the soldier and Castiel on a horse of black. Castiel was so small and in the heavy cloak Castiel could have passed as a sack of potatoes on his lap. No one noticed him. They rode all night and into the next day. Sometimes Castiel slept against the soldier's chest, but mostly Castiel cried. Castiel cried and prayed that someone would see him, mark the soldier as a kidnapper, and rescue him, but of course that didn't happen.

Castiel was exhausted by the time they reached the capitol. Despite his fears and misery, Castiel was still a curious child. The capital city of the Golden Kingdom... It was the most amazing thing Castiel had ever seen. The first thing Castiel noticed was the magnificent castle with its tall towers and banners waving in the noon sky. There were people everywhere, market stands, horses, children playing in the streets. It was like home but a million times larger and infinitely more beautiful. For the briefest moment Castiel stopped being afraid and instead wanted more than anything to get away from the soldier and explore.

The soldier caught him looking and hit him before adjusting his cloak. "Stop moving about like that or you will be seen..."

"Why does it matter if I am seen?"

"You are going to be the next Priest of Elysion," he reminded him. "It's tradition, part of the mystery... You're not to be seen, not ever, except by the maenads and the royal family."

"But you see me..." Castiel pointed out. "You're just a soldier."

He laughed at him. That mean faced man actually knew how to laugh. "I'll tell you a secret," he said. "I'm King Adam."

Castiel can't even begin to express his surprise. Castiel didn't believe him, not at first. Castiel thought he was lying to him. Castiel'd seen paintings of the king... The soldier was mean and ugly. The king was beautiful, wasn't he? "You're making that up," Castiel told him.

"I'm wearing a glamour," he said to him.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I am in disguise, a _magical_ disguise."

Finally the horses stopped. The 'king' dismounted and carried him with him.

The capitol had been incredible, but _nothing_ could have prepared him for his first glimpse of the Elysion Temple. The tall white pillars and sleek marble floors... Everything looked _magical_. And the roses! They were everywhere! All Castiel could do was stare. Castiel stared and Castiel stared with his mouth hanging open. "See," the 'king' said. "I think you are going to like it here, Castiel, Angel of Tears, Watcher of Humanity."

Castiel turned around to glare at him, to say that was not his name, because, even if it was pretty, there was no way Castiel was going to like it here. Castiel still wanted to go home. When Castiel turned around, though... it wasn't the ugly mean faced man that Castiel saw. He really _had_ been the king. The magic must have worn off, either that or he just didn't need it anymore. He looked at him with the kindest warmest smile Castiel had ever seen and he really was just like the paintings. For some reason that made him angry. Castiel wanted to hate him. He took him away from his Gabriel and was going to force him to become this thing- a priest- and Castiel didn't even know what that was.

Castiel truly wanted to hate him...

But all Castiel could do was stare blankly at him.

The maenad took his hand before bowing deeply to the king. "I thank you for your escort, my lord. We will begin the fledgling's training at once."

Castiel took one last look at the king before the maenad dragged him away. It wasn't the last time Castiel would ever see him, but it was the last time Castiel would ever see him smiling.

Despite the cruel king, Castiel could not bring himself to hate humans. He supposed this was why he was chosen as the priest to them. He still loved humankind, even as he was now little more than a slave to them.

Because Adam was the king he had a role to play, just as Castiel, as the boy who would be priest had duties to perform.

Inside the temple Castiel was introduced to various maenads and acolytes. There were several rooms Castiel was forbidden to enter, but for the time being, Castiel was given silk robes to wear and escorted to bed.

So began his first night in that gilded cage that was his home.


	3. Premonition

Four women, Alex, Claire, Kaia, and Patience, were all having the same dream. They were running through the lush jungles of the Amazon. Kaia fell down and started to cry. The other girls stopped and helped her back up. Then, they saw something glittering in a nearby pond. The girls went into the pond and walked up to it. It was a beautiful mirror. They picked it out of the sand. A woman spoke to them from inside the mirror.

The woman had long dark hair to her feet. Her eyes were the blue of the night sky. Her skin was pale moonlight. Her dress was like starlight.

The girls were amazed at the talking mirror.

"I wonder if it's a magic mirror!" Patience exclaimed.

"Yes, I can use magic," the woman told them. "I am called Madame Bandiane."

The girls were delighted.

"Thank you for waking me up," Bandiane said. "As a symbol of my gratitude, I want to give you these." Four billiard balls, the Dream Stones, appeared before them. "With the Dream Stones, you can use magic too and you can be happy forever."

Xxx

One day near the end of December, Dean was in the bunkers' kitchen with Sam and Cass baking cookies. Everyone was amazed at Sam as he used the bottom of a glass to push down balls of cookie dough to make each cookie a perfect circle. Suddenly, the cuckoo clock chimed and the bird came out of the clock.

Kurai and Reiko Hikari-Singer came in, chuckling. These two girls had recently moved in from Japan. Bobby was their biological father, and their mother Rio had passed long ago. Their adoptive father was abusive and when Bobby had discovered this, he had rescued them himself, though unable to rescue his eldest and currently MIA son Satoshi.

Which explained why Bobby wasn't at the table; he was in Japan, looking for his eldest child.

"Oh! The 3 o'clock fairy already?" Kurai said.

"The 3 o'clock fairy?" Reiko asked. "Not this again."

"Mom made cakes for us when we were little," Kurai explained. "Once when I asked her why she made cakes at 3:00 and she said, "That's because of the 3 o'clock fairy! At 3 o'clock, the fairies come to tell every mother to make sweet snacks for their children. I didn't really know when she meant so I thought the bird that came out of the cuckoo clock was the fairy."

Kurai took out her cookies.

"Aw Kurai your cookies!" Reiko said.

Everyone laughed, except for Kurai.

Kurai yelled back, "Shut up! My cookies can beat yours by their superb taste! They are special enough so that one bite makes you energetic and powerful hundreds of times over!"

Everyone crowded around Kurai's cookies, which tasted really good despite how they looked.

Xxx

Kurai was standing outside the bakery looking inside while Reiko made the purchase. On the way, he spotted a man in a trenchcoat looking into a window of a bakery.

Kurai thought he was very suspicious-looking. She stood next to him and started to stare at him from different directions. He smiled at her and she frowned back.

"What are you doing here? Are you waiting for someone?" Kurai asked.

"I'm watching the children come out of the store, they look so happy," Castiel said.

Kurai smiled. "That's because this is a sweet snack store."

"Yeah, this city is really nice! Every mother looks really gentle." Castiel said.

"Yes. The mothers do." Kurai said, thinking of her own mother.

Castiel laughed, "You are funny. This is a great city! Even the snacks even look happy!"

Kurai peered into the window. "You know how they feel?"

"Look! They almost start dancing to make children happy." Castiel said

"To me, they just look delicious." Kurai commented.

Castiel used his angelic powers and several cookies formed a dancing figure. Kurai was shocked. When Castiel stopped, the cookies returned to normal. Castiel quickly faced Kurai and held out his hand uncertainly. "I am Castiel. I am an Angel of the Lord."

Kurai looked at his hand in surprise but then shook it and said, "My name is Kurai."

Castiel and Kurai walked to the end of the street together. Kurai handed her cookies to Castiel.

"What are they?" She asked.

"They are my homemade cookies," he replied. Kuri stared at them for awhile. "Even though they don't look beautiful, my cookies will win with their superb taste. They are so special that one bite will make you more energetic and powerful hundreds of times over."

"Can I keep them?" Castiel asked.

Kurai nodded and Castiel was very happy.

Castiel said, "Good-bye!" and waved to her as she left.

Kurai happily waved back.

Suddenly the two looked into the sky.

It began to get very, very dark...

"Odd," Castiel said. His eyes widened suddenly, and he doubled over in pain.

"Castiel!" Kurai called.

"I-I am fine..." Castiel lied. "Just a little dizzy."

_"What was it..." _he thought. _"That pain..."_

A flying craft with spotted sails appears in the air. Voices call out from it.

Standing on the craft were the missing women: Alex, Claire, Patience, and Kaia.

"Come on! Come on! The circus is here!"

"The city of lights, filled with beautiful dreams!"

"The land we've longed for! We've been waiting and waiting for this time!"

"The arrival of our Eclipse Circus!"

The craft vanished.


	4. Warrior

Hey!" Kuri said. "What the-!? From inside the eclipse... A ship!? They were singing! The Eclipse Circus!"

"Sure looks that way," said Castiel. "A grove, a woman, a ship flying through the sky... And that song, too. Is this a daydream?"

The pain struck him again. _"It's not a dream,"_ he thought. _"I feel an ominous foreboding..."_

Xxx

Kuri and Reiko, the two Castiel had seen before, were watching from a short distance away.

Suddenly, two crows swooped down to them. They dropped a card and a newspaper with an article on the eclipse on the ground.

"The tarot card for the moon," Kuri said. "It foretells anxiety, and bad things to come. The cursed solar eclipse, once in a millennium... Is that what you want to say, my crows? I feel an ominous foreboding... The scent of evil... Let's go to back!"

"Kuri?" Reiko said. "I thought you said we had to leave that man alone.

"I'm worried about him!" They ran toward the park. "The foreboding of a new enemy...!" Kuri said.

Xxx

Back at the park, Castiel and Claire decided to go to the shopping center and kill some time before Claire had to return to Haven. As the two reach the shopping center, they saw a large banner hanging above them.

"Circus arrival blowout sale!?" Claire read. She picked up a flyer. "'A huge circus from the exotic regions of the Amazon! The mysterious Eclipse Circus! They travel the world and have finally come here!'"

They heard a song.

"Filled with beautiful dreams... We're the Eclipse! Eclipse Circus..."

"That song!" said Claire. "Is that the circus song!? Is it carrying all through the city?"

A woman was working at a stand. "Hello hello!" she says. "The circus is coming next month! If you get a stamp from the shopping center now, you get S-row tickets! There's a big sale until the last day of the circus!"

"Wow! It's like a festival!" Claire said. "They've got cotton candy! And goldfish!"

"Miss! How much are these kaleidoscopes?"

"Wow!"

"There's cheap candy, too!"

"A glass sword..." Castiel said. "How fascinating."

Castiel read the flyer. "'Grand opening at Mamiana Sakaue Park!'"

_"The Eclipse Circus?"_ he thought. _"All of a sudden...?"_

He bought the glass sword.

"Strange for you to buy something like this, Castiel." Claire said.

"I don't know why..." Castiel said.

Kuri watched Castiel and made sure he was ok and shared her growing suspicions about the 'Circus' with Reiko. At that moment, the "Five o'clock bell" rang.

"This circus reminds me of a story." Claire said.

"What kind of story?" Castiel said.

"Stories of sunken empires in the sea, or the mysteries of the pyramids, or cursed diamonds. Stories of robots, and vampires, and mirrors." Claire said.

"Stories of mirrors?" asked Castiel.

"Well, on the other side of a mirror, another, pitch-black world exists. So on pitch-black nights, of new moons, you can't look into a mirror. Otherwise, you'll be drawn into the world inside it. It's an old European legend." Claire said.

The mirror in the festival was black.

xxx

Claire was having Another Dream.

An old woman stood inside the circus big top, holding a cane. She faced 4 girls.

"We are Alex, Claire, Kaia, and Patience. We are the Eclipse Dreamers. We will not fail in our mission."

"I will seal the doorway." Kiana said.

"Prepare for the nightmares." The old woman said.

Xxx

"_Castiel..."_

_Castiel followed the voice and found the woman from before._

"_You carry the Aether Sword. Are you my Warrior?" _

_Castiel looked at the glass weapon. On closer examination it looked to be made of crystal._

_The woman took his hands and they hovered over the city. Part of it was pitch black._

"_What is wrong with the city?" Castiel asked her._

"_Nightmares befall this world." The woman said._

_"Who... are you?" Castiel said._

"_I am the Guardian of the Otherworld." The woman said. "But you can call me Kaguya." _

_Castiel saw the Winchesters in the distance._

"_Dean? Sam?"_

_Kaguya started to fade away._

_"Kaguya!?"_

Xxx

Castiel crashed to the floor in his room. He opened his eyes. "...A dream?"

"Are you all right, Castiel?" asked Claire.

He saw the Aether Sword beside him.

"It wasn't a dream..." He got dressed and left.

Xxx

Castiel stood in the park, not sure what he was doing out there or why he had brought the sword.

He heard shouts that a tiger had gotten loose from the zoo.

Castiel looked up and saw the two girls from the eclipse watching him.

"Who...?"

He was knocked to the ground by a growling tiger.

Castiel didn't quite know what happened next, but the sword began to glow.

"The sword..." Castiel said. "I thought it was just a toy..."

Kaguya was in front of him, but she looked see-through, like a hologram.

"Now that crystal sword is beginning to carry spirit, with your strong thoughts and power," Kaguya said. "It had a strong link to you from the beginning."

"I am the Aether Sword," it said. "I will guide your hand, great warrior."

"I'm not...I-I..." Castiel drew back.

He felt his body moving and the sword unleashed a flash of silver light. The Tiger calmed down, and returned to its home.

"_Kaguya..." _thought Castiel. He doubled over. _"What is it... That sounds familiar..." _He collapsed on the ground.

"Castiel?" Claire ran to him.

Xxx

"The tennyo has returned. She thinks to steal her identity back from me..." the voice came from a black mirror deep within the Eclipse Circus. "You must destroy that warrior before the awakening occurs! Find the tennyo and extinguish her light!"

"Allow us, Queen Bandiane." Alex said. "I will drown her and her warrior in a nightmare of sorrow!"

"The rest of you, spread the nightmare. Make sure it reaches Haven. I need the magic of that world to break the seal. Otherwise I will never be able to cast the Spell of Shattered Sight."

"Do not worry, my Queen," Kaia said. "Soon everyone will see things our way."


	5. Synthesia

Princess Kaguya floated over the water in a clearing in the woods. _"My Warrior... I've finally found you,"_ she thought. _"I can't breathe... Something is stuffing up my chest..."_

"Castiel!"

Castiel opened his eyes and saw Claire staring down at him.

"Claire..." he said.

"You're okay!" said Claire.

Dean came into the hospital room. "Claire? How's Castiel!? You said he fell ill and was taken here in an ambulance..."

"Dean!" said Claire. "Castiel just woke up. The doctor hasn't seen him."

Castiel went into another room to see the doctor.

"A lung shadow?" he said.

The doctor paused. "Yes, well... It's a little unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. The infection... I guess you could call it a shadow. Anyway, this is the first case of it. Has this happened to you often before? I'd like to examine you a little more in-depth. When can you come again?"

"Oh, well... I'll see when I can take a day off from school. I'll make an appointment with the front desk." He went out into the hall. _"A lung shadow...?"_ he thought.

Claire went up to him. "Castiel! How'd it go?"

"It's nothing serious," he lied, and went to sleep.

Xxx

"_I can't believe they have gotten to you already." Princess Kaguya said._

"_Gotten to me?" Castiel said. "You know something about my illness?"_

"_It is the result of the evil that is in this land." Kaguya said. "This is their doing."_

"_Who are they?" Castiel said. "How can I help you."_

"_I cannot say now." Kaguya said. "Warrior I need your power."_

_A large cage appeared around her._

_"You have the key to save me, to save everything. You have the beautiful dream. You're protected, my Warrior. You can protect me." Kaguya faded away._

Xxx

"Kaguya!?" Castiel called. "Is that the warrior Kaguya is looking for? Is that really... me?"

"Castiel, are you alright?" Claire said.

"I'm sorry for putting you through that," Castiel said. "That circus... The Dead Moon Circus. They're surely targeting this city. We must act at once."

Castiel smiled. Then he suddenly doubled over.

"Castiel!"

"I'm okay," he said. "I'll rest a little." He lay down in bed. "Claire, I'm just putting a burden on you. I don't feel a speck of your strength in me. Far from it, I keep dragging you down."

"I don't believe that." Claire said, and left the room.

Xxx

_Kaguya emerged from the black mirror in Castiel' room. "Castiel... Please forgive me. I didn't come to the defense of this world. Not just this world, but your body too... Please search for it. The...Dream Stone. My Warrior." She faded away._

_Castiel opened his eyes and sat up. "A dream...?"_

Xxx

Claire was in her home. She was trying to solve the problem of the Dead Moon Circus and had found a forcefield enveloping the shopping center. She recalled advice Jody gave her, telling her she was everybody's brain.

Claire's new roommate, Alex, arrived home at 1am from the hospital in Atlantis.

"I'm sorry, Claire." Alex said. "I'm not home very much am I?"

"It's alright. I work very hard too." Claire said.

Claire remembered how hard Jody used to work to protect People.

At this moment, Zia orders Alex to locate someone with a beautiful dream that protected People. An image of Claire appears in the mirror.

Claire walked outside in the rain to the circus. She then sees a fish store there and entered it.

Claire looked at the fish. "I feel like I'm in the water."

Alex showed up.

"You look like you're happy," said Alex. "I feel people long for the water. It's evidence of their built-up stress. A sign of their frustration."

"So this is where you work." Claire said. "I'll buy a fish."

Claire returned home and stared at the fish in its tank.

She sat up later. "Alex?"

Claire saw her friend with a man. They were talking and laughing.

"Claire doesn't have any hobbies besides working." Alex said. "She's not really my friend at all."

Claire turned to the mirror in her room.

She saw herself talking to Jody.

"Don't come any closer, Claire." Jody said. "I'm tired. Because of you. With no interest in anything but work I'm happy I died so I didn't see you turn out this way."

She saw Castiel with the Winchesters. They were all happy and smiling.

"Castiel!" Claire called.

"When I am with the Winchesters," Castiel said. "even like this, we're so happy! We don't need anyone else!"

The fish from the tank grows into Fish Eye. "Hey," he said. "You don't need to take this. Were you jealous of them? Tell me your real thoughts."

"Yes," said Claire. "I've been so lonely... My dream is to be loved by someone, anyone..."

The mirror shows an image of Fish Eye kissing Claire.

"NO! It's a lie! It's wrong! Help me, Alex! No, that's not Alex! Come on, Claire! This is a hallucination!" She runs out on the balcony, where she was attacked by lemures. "Monsters!? Inside the condo!? Have to call Castiel..." She called out. "Castiel! Can you hear me!?"

She falls through a giant mirror into a vortex.

"This is the nightmare of the imp lemures."

Claire floated through the space.

"You have no self confidence, Claire. You can only depend on others."

Her eyes closed and she fell slowly down through the water.

"NO! Don't listen! Come to me! Warrior!"

She opened her eyes and saw the Princess Kaguya far below, in her cage.

"I am the Guardian of the Underworld. I am Princess Kaguya. And you are one of my Warriors."

"You mustn't fall prey to this nightmare, remember your true dream."

"My true dream...? Oh... Yes. I have lots of people who love me. I want to love those people more. I want to protect them. For that purpose, I work hard. And, my dream... It's to become an good soldier, and protect everyone. Because that is my mission!"

Claire leapt out of the water, a heart shape glowing on her chest. A harp appeared.

"I am Synthesia!"

Claire played the harp and the sound blasted away, and the mirror, lemures and all break and crash and disappear. The man who was holding her roommate disappeared and Alex collapsed. Somehow her prayer must have worked because Castiel ran into the room.

"Are you alright Claire?" Castiel said.

He used the Aether Sword, and Fish Eye was destroyed.

Alex learned of Fish Eye's death.

"Claire!" Castiel said. "I see you've met the Underworld Guardian."

"Yes...but it is strange that she chose an angel like you."

Castiel tried not to be offended.

Kaguya appeared. "My Warriors."

"Kaguya, you are wrong!" Castiel said.. "The one your searching for is not me!"

"The one he's searching for?" asked Claire.

"The warrior I'm searching for carries the beautiful dream," Kaguya said. "This person is a protected soldier. And this person can break the seal on the Dream Stone. The chosen warrior."

"Protected?" Claire says. "A soldier? The Dream Stone?"

"Yes," said Castiel. "The moment I heard Kaguya say that, I knew."

"Then," said Claire, "the maiden is... Me?"

"So, you are my warrior," said Kaguya.

"The maiden Kaguya is searching for isn't me..." Castiel thinks. "The one she needs isn't me..."

Castiel was hurt, and left.

"Castiel!?" Claire called.

Kaguya faded away.

"Kaguya!?"


	6. Reigan

Castiel ran through the streets, tears streaming from her eyes. "Oh... I ran away... I was scared... Even though nothing's changed. I'm so stupid. I knew it, but..."

"It was Claire all along. The person she was searching for... wasn't me... I'm hurt."

_"Warrior."_

"She flattered me by calling me that..."

_"Lend me your strength..." _she said. _"Please, call me..."_

"I thought maybe even I could do something."

_"You have the beautiful dream,"_ she said. _"You're protected by the light of the moon. My warrior. You are the chosen warrior."_

"But I wasn't after all. This me, with no power..." The small bells rang. Kaguya appeared.

"Kaguya..." Castiel said. "I wonder if, someday, the time will come when I'm needed too... When I'll become a fine warrior... I wonder if, someday, my dream will come true..."

Xxx

Claire, Gabriel, and Alex looked around.

"Castiel!?" Gabriel said. "It's starting to pour! Let's go search!"

"Castiel!" Claire called.

Xxx

Castiel buried her face in her hands.

Kaguya leaned down and kissed him.

"Don't cry, my warrior," she said. "Everyone is worried and looking for you. Around you, the path is filled with love. In this body, I'm limited to this. My Warrior. I will come to see you again. So don't cry." She faded away.

XXX

"Castiel!" Claire called. She ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Yes!" She looked down at him. "You'll catch cold. Let's go."

Castiel' mouth hung open.

"Castiel?"

"Where's Kaguya?" He asked.

"He disappeared right after that," said Gabriel. "We couldn't talk to him."

_"Kaguya?"_ Castiel thought, touching his lips. _"Just now, was that Kaguya...?"_

Xxx

The young womman floats to the floor, where she lay as she was inside a golden cage.

"Oh..." said Bandiane. "Your escaping from my curse was quite something. But you and this land are already mine. Soon the surface too, and everything will be mine. Your selfish imitation won't be permitted. Heh heh heh."

"You can enslave this land, and this body," said Kaguya, "but you can't rule my spirit yet! You and your minions will surely be wiped out by my Warrior!"

"Impudent!" A blast struck him in the chest, and he collapsed on the floor.

_"Unless I find the Dream Stone soon..."_ Kaguya thought. _"Unless I return this land to normal... The entire planet will be..."_

_Xxx_

"The Otherworld must be contaminated by darkness." Bandiane said. "But there is light still in the Otherworld, coming from the Dream Stone."

"The light comes from that hateful Princess Kaguya." Zia said. "Only she can wield the power of the Dream Stone. She will depend on her human form on earth, her avatar—her priestess."

"I AM THE ONE WHO WILL WIELD THE SHIKON!" Bandiane screamed. "She is the lesser one! I will destroy her!"

Xxx

Gabriel was working out in the training room.

"Why are you working so hard, Gabriel?" Castiel asked. "Your bow...it seems to be faltering today."

"Your father." Gabriel said. "He caught a cold and can't move now. These are hard times in the world, so I'm looking for efficient management rules."

Gabriel was caring for Castiel Sr whose fever had not gone down.

"Don't worry sir. I'm looking after things here." Gabriel assured him.

Gabriel headed outside to resume training, wondering what he would do when he retired. He still wanted to be near the Fowl family.

He remembered a strange dream he'd had, then an arrow dropped to the ground. Gabriel picked it up. He recalled the words of his principal who said his bow was faltering. He grabbed the arrow and threw it high into the air.

"Go! Phobos! Deimos!" The two crows flew up and retrieved it.

Castiel watched him, wondering if he too was one of Kaguya's warriors.

Xxx

The next day balloons flew in the air as people wander around the grounds of the Dead Moon Circus.

"Come on Gabriel, we have to investigate this place." Castiel said.

"That's right." Gabriel said. "Even I fill childish in a place like this."

Ava passed by, whispering. "The circus will do this to you."

Gabriel turned and didn't see anyone, but saw a Mirror House. The crowd pushed him in and the doors slammed shut behind him.

Gabriel looked into a mirror and saw his past: in training.

"Gabriel." Young Gabriel looked at him. "You have devoted your life to Castiel. Even when you did not agree with him, you did as he said. What sort of life is that? To always be a servant? Didn't you have anything precious to you?"

The mirror flashed, revealing things he had forgotten. The first time he'd met a fairy; before Castiel had kidnapped Claire. The fairy fox he had rescued from other humans.

"Stop it! I will never betray Castiel!" Gabriel said.

The fairy fox turned into a woman. Gabriel began to remember. He had loved her so much.

"Now you're thinking of your own happiness," the young Gabriel said. "Listen to all I have to say. You have to make friends. Yes, for example, I'm getting this wonderful woman."

The young Gabriel reaches up and kisses the woman.

Gabriel lifted his hand and shattered the mirrors. He dropped to his knees and coughed.

Far off, Ava, casting the illusion, screamed in frustration. "My enchantment cannot easily be daunted."

The image of young Gabriel appeared again.

"You loved Reiko." Young Gabriel said. "The fairies took her away. And that's why you helped kidnap Claire. You wanted to make her people suffer!"

"I won't listen to you!" Gabriel said.

Pain struck his body. He was unable to fight.

Xxx

Castiel was searching outside the Hall of Mirrors for Gabriel, when he heard Gabriel's voice.

Castiel headed for the tent immediately. His friend was in danger.

Xxx

Gabriel was collapsed on the floor.

"My Warrior..."

He looked up to see Kaguya before him.

"Are you another illusion?"

A gun appeared in his hands. "I am the ReiGan!"

"It has will?" Gabriel touched it.

He aimed at the illusion and destroyed it.

Xxx

Castiel ran to him. "Are you alright?"

"I was trapped in some sort of illusion." Gabriel said. "But Kaguya appeared to me and I was able to get free."

"Enemies appeared and fought you!?" said Castiel.

"When I passed in front of the mirror house," Gabriel said. "I was strangely drawn in... When it showed me delusions, it crept straight to my heart. The enemies are so obscene! They might be after us. We should be careful."

"Using the circus show," said Castiel. "are they plotting to brainwash people!? Damn!"

"The Eclipse Circus!" Gabriel said.. "People will fall into their trap! We have to stop them somehow. We must expose their true identity at any cost! We have to protect the people of this city! We will eliminate the Dead Moon Circus from this city at once!"

xxx

Meanwhile Bandiane sat in her lair and smiled at the Dreamers.

"The Circus has just begun!"


	7. Laurel Wreath

"Castiel?" Claire said. "Want an afternoon snack?"

"I don't have an appetite. I'm full."

"What!?" Claire said. She left the room. "Oh well, too bad. Today we've got lemon pie, melons, chocolate cake, and sherbet..."

Castiel' eyes widened. He went downstairs. "I don't have an appetite, but!" He said. "I'll eat."

After Castiel finished eating he put on a jacket and headed for the door.

"Where you going?" asked Claire.

"I'm going to..." said Castiel. "I'm looking for...I'll be back."

Castiel left and thought to himself.

_I have only been thinking of Kaguya. She kissed me. Why isn't she appearing more often? Is she trapped? Kaguya must have many secrets. I want to make her strong. I wonder who I can go to for advice. I could go to Claire, but she will talk forever and the Eclipse Circus will be the first thing on her mind. Gabriel won't ask questions, but he will wonder if Kaguya and I are involved. Alex will just get jealous. I could go to Father; but I don't want to involve him..._

"It doesn't matter." Castiel said to himself. "I can find a way to save her myself. With my own strength."

Xxx

Kaguya was lying caged on the floor.

"_I have to hold on,"_ she thought. _"Unless I hold on, even my Warrior's body will be ruined... And then the planet, too..."_

She could hear Xia and Bandiane talking.

"We will kill Kaguya's chosen soldiers." Xia said. "Not to worry, my Queen. We will slay them in front of her, and the Princess will despair and die at last. You will finally gain immortality."

"It will be all mine." Bandiane said.

Xxx

Castiel was lying in bed coughing.

"The aura enveloping his body is weakening. A disturbance is occurring within his body." Claire said. "I've never seen a magical disturbance so bad on a human being."

Castiel coughed harder. Blood splattered onto his hand.

"But, there is nothing I can do with my power anymore." Claire said.

Castiel coughed again.

"Castiel? Are you awake?" Claire said tentatively.

"Claire...please leave. I just want to rest."

Claire looked at him and sighed. "Alright."

Castiel winced as Claire closed the door behind her. _"I can't let her get suspicious..."_ he thought. He looked at his wet hand. _"...of this black blood!"_

_"What's wrong with my body! The Eclipse Circus! From now on, they're reaching their evil hands through this city! When I say from now on, even if I do it again, am I being a burden...!"_

Xxx

As Alex walked home she ran into Castiel.

"I was just going over to your place to talk to you about something." Castiel said.

"Is it about a girl?" Alex guessed.

Castiel' eyes widened in surprise.

Alex cheered. "I'll make a great dinner.

They headed to the market to get some spices.

Inside a man named Taka was throwing a fit because the store doesn't have the spices he wants.

"Sir, you can find the spices you want at the foreigner's market." Alex said.

She took him outside and offered to go with him to the other store.

"I appreciate your kindness." Taka said. "I'm doing market research."

Taka showed Alex his store, an Herbal shop. "Alex, Castiel, please come in."

"So what are you doing here all of a sudden." Alex said.

"I'm part of the Eclipse Circus." Taka said. "It's my dream to have an herb shop."

"It's my dream to win the Nobel Prize." Alex said.

"When you've had a goal since your youth, you must pursue it." Taka said, and gave Castiel and Alex two rings. "The stones are Amazon Stones, anti-evil charms from the Amazon, and they have the ability to make dreams come true."

Castiel and Alex returned to Alex's place with the food they bought, and were making a salad. Alex looked at the ring on her finger.

_"A charm that can make dreams come true, eh?_" she thought. "_He was a wonderful person. It's twinkling. To make my dream come true, I should keep pursuing it further."_

_"My dream... Since my parents died early, I've been living on my own for a long time. I want to win the Nobel Prize. After that is a secret, but... I also really want to become a pretty woman like Claire. And then to become strong like Patience, too. I have lots of dreams. But those dreams... Have I been pursuing them?"_

_Xxx_

"So you're telling me you cooked, Castiel?" Claire said.

"Yes I did." Castiel said.

"I see," said Claire. "Then what?"

"This is that Amazon Stone. The ring's stone is a charm. Hey. It's pretty, but isn't it suspicious!? Getting a stone that looks this expensive for free." Castiel said.

"Castiel, can I keep this?" Claire said.

"Right, right." Castiel said.

After he left, Claire turned to the ring. "An Amazon Stone...?" She cracked the stone with a pair of pliers. "Looks like a normal stone, but... I'll leave it for a while and see..."

Xxx

Alex headed over to see Taka.

"How are you doing going after your dreams?" Taka said.

Alex looked down. "I can't really talk about it to my friends... I... have lots of dreams. But... I'm hesitant... Which path should I choose? I've always kept it buried inside me. My dreams... won't they come true? The path I'm taking now is in the opposite direction, I think-No, what am I saying?"

"If you're hesitant, will you quit?" Taka asked. "Fighting for the Fairies?"

"What!?" Lemures begin to flow out from the ring on Makoto's finger. "What!? These-! This ring! I can't take it off!?"

"These little incarnations of nightmares, the lemures, they want you, filled up with dreams. How would you like to join the Eclipse Circus, too? Let's spread nightmares around the world together." Taka said.

Ropes of energy tied around Alex. The window blinds closed on the shop.

"How pitiful," Taka said.. "No one will come to save you now. Heh heh!" The ropes tighten around Alex. She collapsed.

_"I'm losing my strength..." _she thought. _"Sorry, everyone..."_

Alex opened her eyes and looks up. "This place..."

"_My Warrior..." _Kaguya called. "_Without your strength and wisdom, who will protect me? Who will protect Castiel and Claire?_

_"That's right,"_ thought Alex. _"I am the Warrior. I have many dreams, but my biggest dream now is to protect the ones I love. That is my mission!"_

_"That's the spirit, Warrior." _

Alex felt a wreath of laurel around her head.

_"The emblem of thunder and lightning!"_ she thought. "Leaves of oak!" She ran at the enemies. "I'm going to expel you from this city! That time will be the time when you die! Eclipse Circus! Die!"

The attack flies by them, cutting apart the flying hawk. The Herb Shop vanished. At that moment, Castiel and Claire appeared.

"It will be you who dies, Castiel Novak." Bandiane said.

"That woman..." Alex said.

Castiel heard a ringing sound. "A bell!" He said. "Kaguya!?" He took out the small bell. "Kaguya! Is she calling me from somewhere!?"

Suddenly Castiel choked and collapsed.

Lemures leapt from the air and attacked Castiel' chest.

Kaguya stepped from the same portal and tried to fight them off.

"Castiel!? Kaguya?!" Alex, Claire, and Gabriel said.

Using their new powers, they destroyed the lemures.

"My Warrior..." gasped Kaguya. She collapsed on the floor.

"K-Kaguya..." Castiel caught her, clutching his chest. "She's been protecting me all this time...there are wounds all over her body..."

They saw the blood on Castiel' hands.

"Castiel!? Black blood!?" Claire stared at him.


	8. Circlet

"Castiel!" Castiel kneels on his bed, coughing. Kaguya stands next to him.

Alex runs into the room. "Castiel!"

"Black blood!" says Claire. "Castiel! How long? Why is your blood black..."

"I don't know," he says. "Since a little while ago. My chest started hurting..."

_"And the black shadow in my lungs..._" he thinks to himself.

"Kaguya!" says Castiel. "Tell me! You must know! Is my black blood related to the enemies and you? Is this the enemies' doing!?"

"It seems the time has come already," says Kaguya. "Let us talk." In a glowing light, the Kaguya transformed into a Priestess. She knelt before them. "I am the Priestess of he Dreaming," he says.

"Priestess?" asks Castiel. "The Dreaming?"

"The Dreaming is the holy land that protects Earth," he says. "It quietly rests deep in the Earth, a place like the heart of this planet. I serve as a priestess there. My mission is to continue watching over the Dreamland, and this planet Earth, and you, my Warrior. I am also the guardian priestess of this planet and you."

_"My guardian priestess...?"_ thinks Castiel.

"Since the distant past," continues Kaguya, "you have protected this planet all alone, not knowing you were doing so. Your dalliances with the fairies are proof of that.."

"Do you know me?" he asks.

"Yes, Warrior. But you probably don't know me. This planet is protected by the holy land of Dreaming. I live together with the Dreamland. You, this planet, Dreaming and me. Our four spirits and bodies are linked. And those four spirits and bodies are starting to resonate."

"Our four spirits and bodies are... linked? Resonating?"

"But for that," says Kaguya, "this is happening." A beam of light shines from her forehead to Castiel's chest. A dark flower appeared in front of him.

"Castiel!?" said Claire. "Inside your chest...!"

Castiel looks at himself in the mirror.

_"Inside my chest..." _he thinks. _"A black rose is blooming...!?"_

"In my chest as well," said Kaguya. "A cursed black rose is ruining me. It is a sign of the defilement of the Dreaming; the eternal Nightmare. My Warrior, you are suffering from a curse just like I and Dreaming are."

_"Inside Castiel's chest..." t_hinks Claire. _"A black rose...? A curse!?"_

"The form you are looking at is an illusion of me," says Kaguya. "My body now is also being caged by the curse. I am confined to Dreaming."

"A curse!?" says Castiel. "Confined!? Who could do such a thing...!?"

"There is only one who could do this. In the kingdom of nightmares, inside the new moon. Queen Bandiane of the Eclipse Circus. The Eclipse, their kingdom was sealed deep in the darkness of the new moon. Since long ago, they have been plotting to rule Earth. The Eclipse's Queen Bandiane is an apparition of revenge. If they cause damage to Dreaming, this planet will fall easily. From inside the darkness, the heart of the Earth, Dreaming, was cursed. First, to lift the curse from within, I prayed continually. But with my small power, my prayers were not answered. The curse spread like a nightmare. Dreaming was ruined, and soon the power protecting Earth faded away. Taking that chance, they crept in the moment of the beautifully cursed solar eclipse. It seems this planet is now being invaded from within and without. Due to the curse on Dreaming, its dying condition is under rule by darkness and nightmares. If these conditions continue long, the nightmares will shortly spread to the surface as well, making this planet a dead planet, and making it theirs. Castiel. They are not aware of my powerful Warrior, you. Please, I request that you use your power to defeat them."

"I will help!" says Claire. "Together we will defeat the enemies! If I do that, I'll save Dreaming, you, and Castiel, too!"

"It's regrettable," says Kaguya, "but even if you defeat them, you cannot lift the curse on Dreaming and the Warrior."

"What are you saying!?"

"In this ruined body, it was quite hard getting to my Warrior. Then I finally found you. Castiel, if you are indeed the chosen warrior, you should be able to search out the Dream Stone.. If you have the beautiful dream. If you are the soldier. If you are the chosen warrior, who can break the seal on the Dream Stone."

"The Dream Stone?"

Wing sprouted out from Kaguya's back.

"Kaguya!?"

"Warrior," she says. "I am a priestess. I only have the power to pray for salvation and watch over. Warrior, I need your power. The day to break the seal on the Dream Stone has come. Please, save everything from the nightmares with the power of the Dream Stone..." She disappeared..

"Kaguya!" Claire called. "Without the Dream Stone, I can't save Castiel and Kaguya, and Dreaming and Earth! The Dream Stone! Where is it? How can I find it...?"

Castiel coughs up more blood.

"Castiel!?" Claire said.

"You should stay away from me!" he says. "This curse... You might catch it! You shouldn't stay with me."

_"I can't even lend you my strength with this body,"_ he thinks to himself sadly.

"I will stay with you," said Claire.

"Claire..." Castiel said.

"I'll protect this planet, you, and everyone!" Claire said.

_"Kaguya...!"_ thinks Castiel. _"I want to help him... Kaguya."_

_"Without the Dream Stone,"_ thinks Alex, _"the Warrior and Dreaming won't be saved. And maybe even this planet. The Dream Stone... Where could it be? What kind of crystal is it!?"_

"So to completely save Earth from the Eclipse," says Gabriel, "we need the Dream Stone... And this thing that's happening to Castiel..."

"We should have been thinking of these enemies differently," says Alex. "From now on, the five of us have to fight to help Claire and to protect Castiel."

"Right!" says Castiel.

"Now how are we going to go about fighting the enemies? We need to work on a strategy."

"Yeah, we do."

"Um, yeah," said Patience. "Right..." She left. _"How come I'm the only one who has no power?"_ she thinks. "Right... I didn't tell the others, but... I lost my power. Only me."

Xxx

Patience went to Gabriel.

"I've lost my power, Gabriel." Patience said. "I've lost my strength."

"Your time will come." Gabriel said. "You are in the process of storing power as a great soldier."

Patience isn't comforted much and decides to go take a bath.

_Acting like this isn't strong at all. I must be strong. I am a soldier, just like the others._

Xxx

Watching Patience in her Mirror, Bandiane called forth two Circus brothers.

"You will destroy this soldier before she can regain her strength!"

Xxx

"It is hot this summer." Patience said. "The city gets dirtier and dirtier. Lemures hide in the dirt and darkness."

Two men were arguing.

Alex took out a mirror. "I got this from Castiel. He said that it can detect the strange magic from Eclipse."

"It's all coming from the center of the Circus." Gabriel said.

_I wonder if that's why I've lost my powers. But then why does it only affect me?"_ Patience thought

"Are you ok?" Claire said. "Your acting strange."

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Patience ran off.

Xxx

Patience ran off. "_Why have I lost my powers...my strength. What if an enemy threatens Castiel? I'm supposed to be a Gabriel! I'm supposed to protect him!"_

A man approaches her. "You," he says. "Would you like to go to a wrestling audition?"

Xxx

"I've been scouted!" Patience said to the others. "It's my dream and whatever it takes I'll make it come true!"

"It sounds suspicious." Alex said. "Show me the scout's card."

"_Eclipse Entertainment Mr. Xenotime"_

"Whoa." Alex said. "Look at this.

"I'm in a hurry." Patience said, and left.

Xxx

Patience looks at the audition ad as she walks down the street. _"I'm such an idiot,"_ she thought. _"I knew it was probably a Eclipse trap."_

"Patience! Wait!" calls Gabriel. "What are you thinking! Are you planning to go after them by yourself? Even though you lost your powers!"

"Shut up!" says Patience. "This is the chance to show my power!" she thinks. "I have to act! I'm going after them! The Eclipse! I'm made to fight, for fun and profit!"

Xxx

Patience goes to the Eclipse audition. _"All these Eclipse buildings are here all of a sudden!?" _she thinks. _"It's so hot and stuffy. It feels really suffocating here. It's not just the heat. I'm sure there's a strange air hanging. We've been invaded without knowing it. Now! I'm going to check this out thoroughly!" _She puts on a dress and gathers with the other girls there for the audition. _"What!?"_ she thinks. _"This many girls came!?"_

She looks at her reflection in her crescent moon compact. _"There's no way I can save everyone by myself,"_ she thinks. _"I guess I should call Castiel and the others... But... then everyone will find out I lost my powers! No! Don't be afraid! Never say die, Patience! I'll fight by myself! That's what I've decided!"_

Zeolite calls everyone to enter the tent and Patience finds herself in a jungle.

"Now! The survival audition begins!" says Zeolite. "This audition will fit you for the story. One after another, become brave girls, and come out of the jungle. Then save the children on top of that tower!"

Four kids cower on the tower, crying.

_"They put children up there!?"_ thinks Patience.

"First place gets a prize of $50,000!" says Zeolite. "And will become our next wrestling champion!"

All the girls charge into the jungle, shoving others out of the way.

"Hehe," says Bandiane. "Get angry, get angry. Release more and more energy. The lemures will change your energy and dreams into nightmares. Being able to spread this many nightmares makes me happy."

"Everyone, calm down!" says Patience. "This audition is strange! Get out of the tent!"

"Shut up!" says one girl. "We're going to be wrestlers!" They continue running.

"Wait, everyone!" Patience calls. Boulders begin falling toward Patience.

"Look out!" Alex runs in front of her and destroys the boulders.

"Alex!?"

"Patience!" Gabriel says. "I don't care what you say."

"Right!" says Claire. "When we go after enemies, we all go together!"

"Claire!? Gabriel!?"

Lemures begin attacking her.

"Patience! Use your powers!"

"I-I can't do it!" Patience said.

"Patience!?" says Claire.

_"Like this, I'll just be a burden on everyone!"_ Patience thinks. She runs into the jungle. _"I'm going ahead!"_

"Patience!"

Patience comes to a clearing and sees lemures swarming over unconscious bodies. "Everyone!" she says. "Hold on! They're multiplying rapidly, these things! Oh no! Could they be sucking up everyone's power!? They just want to be wrestlers. Preying on those pure and clean dreams! I won't allow it! I'm stopping this event, Eclipse! I'll save them all!" She climbs up the tall tower holding the kids. As she approaches the top, knives begin pelting down at her.

"Patience! Watch out!" calls Gabriel. Knives fly at the three soldiers.

"Seems we have people who aren't participants in the audition," says Zeolite. "Make one move, and I won't guarantee the survival of your little friend who lost her powers. Now, lemures! Eat up these soldiers, and put them to an end! Ahahaha!"

Patience reaches the top of the tower. "I made it!" she says. "Now I'm going to save you all!" The kids change into lemures. "They're not children! Damn!" She drops to the floor as more knives fly at her.

"Congratulations!" says Bandiane. "You've cleared a number of obstacles, and you've arrived here in first place! Now you're one step away from being an wrestler!"

_"I can't move my body!"_ Patience thinks.

"Last, we'll do a little treasure hunting," says Bandiane. "Little lemures!"

"Lemures!?" Patience screams as the lemures delve into her body. _"I feel faint..."_ she thinks. _"They're slipping inside my head..."_

"Ehehe," says Bandiane. "Now you're a member of the Eclipse. So, go to where your friends are, and destroy them."

Patience gets up. "Destroy..." she says. "For our Eclipse... Heh."

Gabriel grabbed her. "Patience!" he says.

Patience cries out in pain. "Gabriel!?"

"Get a hold of yourself, Patience!" he says.

"Damn!" says Bandiane. She stamps her foot on the floor.

A trap door opens underneath Patience, and she drops through it. "Oh no! I'm fallllllling!"

Gabriel grabs onto her hand, holding her in the air.

"Gabriel!?"

_"Oh no..."_ she thinks. _"My arm feels like it's going to come off..."_

Bandiane appears. "This is where I have my fun," she says. "Hailstone Ball!" she calls.

A boulder appears in the air. "Gabriel!" calls Patience. The boulder falls down toward the angel. "Gabriel! Noooooo!"


	9. Stolen Dreams

Patience hung from the tower, high over the ground. A boulder rests on the floor next to her hand. Blood ran down her arm. "Gabriel!" she cried. Tears streamed from her eyes. "_I'm sorry, Gabriel!"_ she thinks. _"I always only said unfair things to you. I was only cruel to you. Now I know. You and I are partners!"_

The boulder was lifted up. A hand grabbed Patience's, and Gabriel held her in the air. "Now I know," he said. "That you couldn't become a warrior, Patience. It's because as your partner, I lacked power."

"Gabriel...?" He smiled. _"Power is spreading all through my body,"_ she thought. _"Even more than before, such strength. Gabriel and I are linked together."_

Gabriel held out a heart-shaped crystal. "Your Crystal, Patience," he said. She took it.

Patience gained her powers and leapt back onto the top of the power.

"Patience!"

"Gabriel!"

"Damnit!" said Bandiane.

Patience turns to her. "How dare you treat me with such terrible disdain! I'll beat you with my matchless kusarigama! Shock and Awe!" Bandiane disappeared. The attack flew past her.

"Patience!" Castiel said. "You became a warrior!"

"I'm sorry, everyone," Patience said. "But I'm fine now."

_"Gabriel,_" she thinks. _"Thanks to you."_ He looked down at her from the tower, smiling.

They sent Lemures to attack the trapped soldiers.

Xxx

_"Can't I do it with my power alone, after all?" _Patience thought. _"Is my power still not enough? If we had more, more strength! To defeat the enemies, to protect the ones important to us! Power! Gather!"_

Castiel stared out the window, at the dark sky. _"I feel uneasy..."_ he thought. _"Tonight again, I can't even see one star. Is this the enemies' doing too? The darkness spreading, so I can't see the stars? Kaguya...I want to go see her. I want to go help her right now. Where is Kaguya? Where is Dreaming!?"_

Castiel began to cough and collapsed.

"Castiel!" the warriors cried, held by the vines.

Xxx

The vines were destroyed by Dean and Sam, freeing the others.

Xia attacked.

The four enemies vanished, missing her attack. "They dodged it!?"

They stared at each other. All exchanged happy comments and remark on their growth. Patience ran and hugged Gabriel.

"Gabriel!" She hugged him down. "You're alright!"

"Patience! Castiel...is he alright?"

"He..." said Claire. "He might not hear your voices now."

Xxx

"Castiel!" Claire said. "Castiel!?"

Castiel lay in bed, coughing. "I'm okay. I'll get better if I get some rest..."

"Since you came back, you've been in pain, Castiel." Claire ran out of the room. "I'm going to call the others!"

Xxx

The Eclipse Dreamers now attacked all of them and they attacked back all the while talking and exchanging info. Patience asked why Castiel can't hear their voices and Kaia asked why they came back to them.

"A crisis is approaching Castiel," said Alex. "We've gathered for that. We can't avoid that destiny. So we'll protect those two with all our strength. We must face and overcome that destiny. We'll cut our way through our new destiny. That is the true mission of us ten warriors."

The girls continued to fight.

Xxx

"My Warriors."

Alex halted. "That voice...! It can't be..."

"It's is." Claire said.

Castiel sat up in bed. "I feel it!" He thought. "They are fighting! Everyone is gathering!"

Claire and Alex ran to Castiel's room and grabbed the mirror from his dresser. "Castiel's hand mirror!" He saw the others in it. "Everyone!?"

Claire held up the mirror. "Mirror! Take me to the others!"

"I'm going right after you!" says Castiel.

Claire and Alex vanished with the mirror. The hand mirror appears before Patience. She sees the image of Claire and Alex in it. "Claire! Alex!"

"I have to go too!" Castiel said. He ran out of the house.

As Castiel ran through the street, he saw Kaguya running toward him.

"Kaguya...!"

"Castiel!" she said. "I heard your voice, calling me..."

"I'm all right."

"Castiel!?"

His knees buckled, and he fell down.

"Castiel!"

Kaguya caught him.

"It can't be... Your body... "

"We have to go," Castiel said. "Everyone's gathering. Something is going to happen. We have to go. I'm the one who has to defeat the enemies."

xxx

"Castiel is in crisis!?" said Patience. "For that, all the soldiers are gathering...!" She grabbed Claire. "What's going to happen!? What'll happen to those two!?" She screamed as knives flew past her.

"We don't have time for this nonsense!" said Kaia. She held out her mirror. "Look!" The power blasted a giant hole in the top of the circus tent.

A dark moon loomed in the sky overhead. "It's appeared over the circus! That huge new moon- no, inside the darkness of the new moon, a wide mouth is spreading in outer space! The nightmares are rapidly spouting out from there, to the planet's surface."

"But...!" thought Patience. "There was nothing when we entered the tent! No, from previous lives, the outside was already spreading strange air and darkness.

"People throughout the world, cities, engulfed in the nightmares of their creation. Around this planet, since long ago, it has been covered by a strange barrier of darkness. They plan to conquer this planet, and make it a planet of death."

The girls laugh.

Castiel runs through the city in darkness. "The darkness is getting thicker!" He thinks. "Was the world this dark?" The decrepit streets are covered in trash. People everywhere are fighting.

"What did you say, punk!"

"Die!"

"Haha! Kill him!"

"Since when has the city been this enraged!?" thinks Castiel. "This isn't our world!" He sees the dark moon in the sky, clouds all around it. "What's that? A pitch-black moon...? No, it's just like a black hole...!"

"Kaia! Alex! Claire! Patience!" Castiel calls.

Zia appears in the air. "Damn girls!" she says. "You're a lot of trouble. This is the end of your play." She sees Castiel. "Heh heh heh. You come here often, warriors. I am the guiding soul serving Queen Bandiane, Zia. Ones of the Dreaming! It is too late, this city is already ours. This planet, too, is practically under our rule."

"Such a fragile planet," says Queen Bandiane, appearing above him. "The humans accept our nightmares defenselessly. This planet is protected by weak ones who accept the nightmares themselves! Just like twisting a baby's neck!"

Castiel start to cough hard.

"Castiel!" calls Claire.

"I won't let you!" says Castiel. "Preying on weakness, doing as you please!"

"The Dreaming was gone long ago," Zia says. "You should be eliminated! Cursed ones!" The winged eyeball flies from his staff.

"Look out!" Claire calls.

It shoots a beam at Castiel.

Kaguya lies on the floor, in her cage. "Oh no! My Warrior!" She appears

"Kaguya!" calls Castiel.

Castiel begin to shrink under the beam, becoming younger and younger.

"My Warrior!?"

Castiel lay on the ground, as a child, coughing.

"You are slowly suffering and losing your breath," says Zia. "Good. Heh heh. Ahahaha!"

"Oh no!" says Claire. "Is this the second stage of the curse Kaguya was talking about!?"

"My body now is also being changed by the curse," Kaguya said.

"This... isn't fair!" says Alex. "I won't let you!"

"Now you can't protect this planet anymore!" say the demons. "Heh heh. Ahaha!" They run away.

Claire and Alex run after them.

Kaguya approaches the two coughing children. "Their resistance is rapidly diminishing," he says. "If it continues like this, their lives will...!" Light begins to shine from the jewel on his forehead. A light flashes, and Castiel and Kaguya are gone.

"Castiel? Kaguya!?"

Alex follows after Claire. "Where are you going?"

"To fulfill my destiny," says Claire. "To fight together with you!" They run into a circus tent.

Inside the tent, the four sisters attack and cover the two girls up with soy beans.

Claire thrusts out her weapon. A force field forms around her and Alex, shielding them.

"Your spirits are also ruled by those nightmares!" Claire says. "Don't you see it!?"

"What are you talking about!? Since we were born on the Circus, with the power of the sacred new moon's darkness, we are capable of controlling the nightmares!"

"You're only using that power as a perverted form of the power inside you! Wake up!"

A haze appears around the four girls. "Hated ones of the Dreaming! Our plot is to take the blue planet!" Broken glass falls at them.

Alex hears voices inher head.

"Beautiful dreams are garbage!"

"In darkness, in the circus, dreaming wasn't allowed."

"Hate! It's all the fault of the ones of the Dreaming!"

"Nightmares are flowing in," she thinks. "But these nightmares are a little familiar. Aren't they enemies!?"

"Wake up," says Claire, holding out his weapon. "Otherwise, there is only death. You are only being manipulated by the dead."

The four girls stare at her in silence. One of them slowly reaches her hand toward Claire. A barrier appears between them, and the four jerk back in pain.

Zia shows up and yells at the girls calling them immature brats. They call out 'forgive us' but Zia sucks them up into a ball. "They've forgotten the kindness with which I lovingly raised them," she says. "Now they're only disruptions." The winged eyeball returns to her. "Oh, Zia," she says. "Punish the invaders over there." The eyeball glows. Two shards of glass are raised from the ground.

Alex grabs her weapon. The two shards fly at Alex and Claire, and they are sucked into the glass. Zia picks up the balls and glass. "Heh heh." She puts them through the black mirror, dropping them on the other side. "Heh heh heh." Queen Bandiane smiles as she sees the four balls and two shards of glass drop to the ground before her.


	10. Waking

"Blinding... The light of the sun... It feels so good... Ahh... In Kaguya's bed. Always deep in the scent of the sun and nature..."

"Castiel... Castiel..."

"Uhh..." The young boy looks up and sees a small girl with short, dark hair.

"Kaguya?"

She bends down and kisses him. "Morning, Castiel."

He sits up in bed.

"Now, take a shower and get dressed," She says. "How do you want your eggs? Sunny-side up, boiled, or in an omelet?"

"Omelet..."

"Okay!"

She runs out of the room.

"W- What the-?" Castiel thinks. "I feel like somehow I'm dreaming, but..." She goes into the kitchen, after getting dressed. "Good morning, Kaguya."

Kaguya is setting the table. "Ah, Castiel," he says. "Today we're having French toast. Want jam on yours?"

"I'll have lime marmalade! Wait, I don't have time to be eating carefree like this!"

"It's all right," says Kaguya. "We've still got an hour before the bell."

"A- An hour!?" Castiel cries. "Oh! Oh no! I'm late for my mission!"

"Castiel," says Kaguya. She holds out his book. "I did it already. And I put all your books in your bag."

They leave the house for school. "Is... Is this a dream?"

"Man, Castiel, you're strange," Kaguya says. "You can't dream while you're walking."

"Oh, I guess not."

"I'm happy," she says. "My dream was to live with you, Castiel, and go to school together every morning. I'm so happy my dream has come true."

"What...?" He thinks. "Is that what it is?"

"I want to make all your dreams come true, Castiel. You don't have to do anything. You can just take advantage of me."

"Kaguya..." he thinks. "She used to be this sweet... The normal Kaguya is more cool and grave, and she'd never do my work for me."

"Your dream, Kaguya," she says. "Wasn't it for your freedom...?"

"My dream is to marry you," she says.

His eyes widen in shock.

"What's your dream, Castiel?"

"M- Mine!?" he says. "My dream is..."

"Castiel... Castiel..."

"Uhh..."

Castiel opens her eyes and sees the adult Kaguya looking at him with concern.

"Are you all right?" She asks.

"Kaguya?" he groans. "Damnit! It was a dream, after all!" she thinks. "But Kaguya was so cute, and that situation was perfect..."

"Does your body feel well?"

Castiel looks up. "Kaguya!" He looks at himself. "B- But, my body was shrinking..."

"Shh," says Kaguya. "Make your voice as quiet as possible. It might be useless, but we do not want Bandiane to notice us. I want to go to the shrine. We have come this far, and the nightmares on the surface have abated somewhat. The remaining purification power of this land has returned you to your original forms."

Castiel looks at the devastated land around him. "This place..."

"This is the Dreaming."

"Like the wasteland of the night..." thinks Castiel.

Castiel sees black flowers on the ground. "Kaguya!"

"The black roses are a sign of the curse," says Kaguya. "Of this once beautiful Dreaming becoming a land of nightmares. Let us proceed to the shrine."

They enter the old shrine, and climb the steps to the center, where a large crystal formation stands, holding two people inside. Both have two ponytails hanging from balls of hair.

"Is that... crystal?" Castiel says. "And people inside!?"

"Besides me," says Kaguya, "there are only two inhabitants of this land. Maidens serving the shrine. They are maenads. The crystal is the one hope of purifying this land. These two are sleeping, protected from the curse."

"This is familiar..." thinks Kaguya. "I feel like I know this building, the smell of this place."

"Warrior, your kinsmen have always protected this shrine. And the Dreaming. This is the place where your dead kingdom, the Golden Kingdom, used to be."

"The Golden Kingdom...!" thinks Castiel. "Yes... I know this place. The same winds as on the surface blow through the thick green of this sacred land that guards this planet, Dreaming. I lived in this land, and I loved this place."

"That's right," says Kaguya. "From here, you went to the surface and protected this planet. Deep in this shrine, I offered my prayers to protect this planet. We never met each other, but our souls were always one. Our wishes were always one. And with the destined meeting of you two, again, we had the same wish. In your separate places, you couldn't be together. Then, too, the two of you shared the same mission, the same power, the same soul."

"The same mission?" says Castiel. "The same power...the same soul?"

"You protected this planet Earth. The Golden Kingdom. And now that mission is carried in the crystal of your kingdom. The Golden Crystal is the holy stone of the Warrior of the Golden Kingdom. They send out your power."

"Here, in the heart of the shrine," says Kaguya, "is the tower of prayer. This is where I always offered my prayers, and received all sorts of revelations. Those revelations, too, I received at this tower."

"Kaguya..." the figure says. "The time for the seal to be lifted on the Golden Crystal has come. However, for you and Dreaming, that will be the time of your biggest trial." The crescent moon gleams on the figure's forehead. "I can only tell you this now, but the warrior will always be on your side."

"The warrior...?" asks Castiel.

"The warrior carries the beautiful dream. He is protected by the light of the moon. He is the soldier, and she carries the power that can break the seal on the Golden Crystal."

"And you..."

"That revelation was referring to you," says Kaguya. "That name and figure. The time has come. The day when you, warrior, with the power of your holy strength, will break the seal on the Golden Crystal."

"Kaguya," says Castiel. "The Golden Crystal... Where is it now?"

"Where the Golden Crystal is sealed, nobody knows. It could be somewhere here in Dreaming, or it may be somewhere else. Warrior, if you are the one, if you are the one who had the crystal long ago, you will know where."

"The same as me..." she says. "Could it be... The Golden Crystal is inside my body...!"

"Yes!" says Kaguya. "The Golden Crystal has been sealed inside you!"

"Inside me... The Golden Crystal!? There's... There's no way..."

"I know it's there," Kaguya says. "You've always filled me with strength. That strength always guided my power. That strength was the very strength of the Golden Crystal! The time has come for that holy stone's power to be crystallized, and released!"

"In me... The power of the crystal... I was always just dragging you down, while inside me..."

"I just had a dream," says Kaguya. "Just before I woke up, you asked me what my dream was. My dream is to protect this planet, so that everyone can live in happiness. To do it with you, Castiel. What's your dream?"

"My dream, too," he says, "is to protect this planet, together with you."

They hold each other.

"I'm glad," says Kaguya. "They're the same. Our dreams were always one."

Castiel sees the Kaguya's real body lying on the ground, locked in a cage.

"Kaguya!? Your body was captured over there!?"

He runs to the cage.

"Warrior!" Kaguya the woman calls after her.

As Castiel touches the cage, an electrical field around it activates, shocking him. He cries out in pain.

"So the mice have crept in," says Bandiane. She stands and walks to the black mirror. She passes through it, to stand in the shrine. "The pretty bird in the cage was a lure for the mice. Heh heh heh."

"Bandiane!?" Castiel says. "Let Kaguya go!"

A lights glows on the chests of Castiel.

"That light!" says Kaguya.

"Vulgar mice," says Bandiane.

The jewel on Kaguya's forehead shines. "Dreaming!" She calls. "Give me strength!"

A sphere of light appears around Castiel, and it carries him into the air.

Bandiane shoots electricity at Kaguya, shocking him.

"Kaguya!"

"Quickly, to the surface!" she says. "Now you will be able to resist the nightmares up there! Protect this planet!"

Castiel and Kaguya (her spirit) vanishes from the sky.

Xxx

The warriors stare at the ground.

"Castiel! Kaguya!"

Castiel and Kaguya appears before them.

"Castiel! Kaguya!"

"Everyone!" says Castiel.

Kaguya joins hands with Castiel.

"Where's Dean and Sam!?" Castiel says.

"They were following the Amazoness Quartet into the forest!"

"Haven't they come back!?"

Xxx

"I am troubled," says Bandiane. "But whatever the problem is, it is already too late."

"Bandiane-sama," says Zia. "The guard of Dreaming has become weak. We have a chance if we act now! Leave it to your guiding soul, Zia."

Xxx

Castiel looks at the dense foliage and bodies all around her. The dark moon looms in the sky. "This jungle! These people of the city!"

"It's hot..." says Alex.

"I... can't breathe..." says Patience.

"Everyone!?" Castiel says. "Hold on!"

Castiel started to cough, hacking up blood.

"We can't be defeated..." Castiel says. "We have to save everyone. But... It hurts... I can't... breathe...! Kaguya...!"

"Warrior!" calls Kaguya. "You've hidden your holy power. Dreaming! Please, send your power of purification to the surface! Grant my final prayer!" A light shines on top of the shrine. On the surface, crystal begins to grow over the jungle.

"The heat's dropped!?" says Juliet. "What happened!?"

"Warrior!"

"Kaguya? Is this the purification power of Dreaming?"

"It might not hold for long," says Kaguya. "But this is this limit of myself and Dreaming."

"Kaguya!?"

"Warrior... I am happy to have met you..."

Her spirit meets with Castiel's, fading away.

"Kaguya!" Castiel cries.

Xxx

Zia appears outside the circus tent. Bandiane laughs.

"Her power has finally given out!" Zia says. She rises into the sky, growing huge.

The warrior look up at her. "She's become gigantic!?"

Power blasts out from her body into the air.

Two beams pierce Castiel through the chest.

He fall to the ground, blood spewing out.

"Castiel!" the others call.


	11. Nightmare

Castiel fell to the ground, blood spewing out.

"Castiel!" the others call.

Claire ran to Castiel, and lifts up his blood-covered body. Castiel skin melts away from her body. Claire drops her in horror. "Noooo!" she screams.

"Castiel!" yells Alex.

"Oh my..." thinks Patience. "Oh my god..."

"This!" yells Kaia. "This is a nightmare!"

Xxx

"A nightmare!?" thinks Castiel. "What happened?" He looks around and sees the dead bodies of all the others. "Everyone!? Claire!? Alex?! Patience!? Kaia!?" His rotting body dripped blood on his suit. "Oh no... This... is a nightmare...!"

"Hahaha!" laughs the immense Zia, towering over the crystal-covered city. "This planet forever belongs to the New Moon. Weak ones, forever become vagabonds, inside the darkness and nightmares of the new moon!"

"Look!" said Castiel, pointing to the monitor in the command room below Phantomhive Manor. "Earth is being engulfed in darkness! At this rate, the surface will give way and the Dreaming's crystal barrier will be broken! The surface will be drawn into that new moon!"

"Nobody's responding, Cass!" says Dean, wearing his headset.

"Oh no!" thinks Sam. "Was everyone... By the New Moon..."

Dean stares into the monitor. "Earth is..."

"I'm going to the Dead Moon Circus!" Sam says.

"Wait! Sam!" calls Dean.

Sam stops.

"Let's stay on alert here for a while."

"The others won't lose to this!" says Castiel. "We believe in them! They will surely protect this planet!"

He slaps awake Claire and Kaia.

"Get a hold of yourselves!" Castiel says. "These are the enemies' nightmares!"

"Castiel!" says Claire, holding her red cheek.

"Castiel!?" say the others, seeing him alive.

"Look!" Castiel shouts.

"Zia!"

"Be strong!" Castiel says. "Do you want to hand this planet over to them!? Defeat them and protect this planet!"

"Castiel...!" think the three outer soldiers as they look at Castiel. "He broke through that nightmare with his own strength...!?"

Castiel remembered Kaguya. "Oh... That's right... I just swore to you that I would forever defend the happiness of the people on this planet. And that wasn't a dream. Defending this planet has always been our reality. To nightmares... To our own dreams... We can't give in to such things! We can't give in!"

"Right," thinks Patience. "Castiel, our everything... Our life and our death, our despair and our hope, and our dreams, forever shining, lie with you." She thrusts her hand into the air. "Castiel!" She shouts. "Whatever happens, we will protect you!"

They join hands as they kneel in a circle, and power shoots into the air.

It strikes Zia, knocking him from the sky, and he falls to the ground. "G- God damnit...!" he says. He flies back up, disappearing into the circus big top.

The others run to it.

Kaia and Claire fired at the big top.

A hole blasts open in the tent.

"There!" says Alex, looking through her glasses.

They rush in after Zia. Zia places his hand against the black mirror, pushing it in. He moves through it. "Into the mirror!?"

Castiel follows him, running through the mirror.

"Castiel!?"

Claire rushes after her, and slams against the hard glass of the mirror.

Castiel sees a black figure sitting among broken glass. The woman has long, long dark hair, falling to the floor. Three joined crescent moons adorn her forehead.

"This place!?" Castiel thinks. "That woman!?"

"Heh heh heh..." the woman says. "Such power! Allowing you to make it in here. At last, the time has come for the brilliant, unmatched power of that planet to belong to me, Queen Bandiane. Heh heh heh."

"Queen... Bandiane!?"

Castiel looks around. "I feel it... The brilliant power of the planet... The brilliant power of the planet's protection! From where!?" She looks at the ground. "Those four stones... and shards of glass!? Dean! Sam!"

Dean and Sam wake up in glass prisons. "Where are we!?" they think.

"Dean! Sam! You're in there!?"

"Castiel!"

Bandiane laughs as she shoots glass at Castiel. The glass forms a wall, surrounding Castiel.

"Dean! Sam!" He grabbed his sword and attacked The glass around him shatters, and Dean and Sam are freed. "Dean! Sam!"

"Damn you!" shouts Bandiane.

Castiel, Dean, and Sam attacked. Glass shatters, leaving a wavering image of Bandiane.

Claire and Patience pound on the solid mirror. "Castiel!"

"Everyone!? I saved Dean and Sam! Break the mirror!"

Alex tried to shatter the mirror.

"Let me!" says Claire. She runs forward and throws her fist into the mirror.

Bandiane's face cracks. Her image wavers and breaks apart.

"Ohhh!" says Zia. "The beautiful New Moon's Queen Bandiane will not die! She will not die yet!" He flies into the blackness. "Next time we will take everything, and rule space!"

Dean kneels on the ground and picks up the four stones, staring at them.

"Dean!?"

The room begins to crumble around them. They run and jump at the mirror, breaking through to the other side, rejoining the others.

"Castiel!"

The eleven of them stand in the crystal-covered street and stare into the sky, where the winged ship of the New Moon spews spirits into space and slowly shrinks.

It drops to the ground at Castiel' feet.

"Castiel! Dean! Sam! You're safe!"

They look around at the empty street.

"Has the Noah's Ark Circus... disappeared?" says Kaia.

"There's no change in the city or the atmosphere," says Patience.

"Where did they disappear to!?" says Alex.

"Oh no!" says Castiel. "The Dreaming!?"

"The Dreaming's in danger!" He says to the others. "We're going to Dreaming! Guard the surface!"

"We're going too!"

"No," Castiel says. "Wait here. I have to find Kaguya. I'm going to the Dreaming!"

They all join hands and descend through the blackness to the decrepit land of the Dreaming. Across the calm lake stands the old shrine, where two women wait on the steps.

"We have been waiting," says one.

"We are the maidens who serve this shrine," says the other.

"Kaguya..." says Castiel.

"This way."

The women lead them to the back, where Kaguya lies in a large cage.

"Kaguya!"

"Cass!" says Dean. "Don't touch the cage! It's dangerous."

"Kaguya!" shouts Castiel. "Kaguya! Why won't you answer me? Wake up!"

"Kaguya used all of her power," says Dean, "to protect the city and its people from the enemies. And then, her power gave out."

"Did she die?" Castiel asks. "It can't be. It can't be! Kaguya! Answer me! Kaguya!" The small bell dropped to the ground. He picks it up, tears in his eyes. "She not dead," he says. "Kaguya isn't dead yet! Her power hasn't given out! Because I, and the Dreaming, and Earth are alive!"

Dean's head jerks up. "A spirit!?" He thinks. "Is somebody, somewhere, watching us!? The enemies aren't dead yet, either. Our fight isn't over yet!"

They hear a scream.

Castiel turns and looks into the sky, and sees the ship flying toward them. "The Noah's Ark ship...!" A black mirror appears, and Zia winged eyeball flies toward it. "That mirror!" The image of the dark woman appears inside it. "Queen Bandiane...!?"


	12. Ascension

"Heh heh heh..." she says. "I am the queen of the kingdom of the new moon's darkness, Bandiane. Castiel... No. Brilliant Warrior of the Dreaming. Your beloved Kaguya thought you could defeat me?"

"Kaguya..." says Castiel. "Do you know her?"

"I will again be Queen of the Dreaming," says Bandiane, "and this planet belongs to the Dreaming! So who is the true ruler of this planet? It seems the time to decide has come."

"This planet belongs to the people of Earth!" Castiel says. "You have sprinkled it with your evil spirits and nightmares! Here, together with your nightmares, you will be destroyed!"

"You cannot defeat my curse," says Bandiane.

Castiel grabs his chest in pain."Why!?"

"You want to know? Cute Warrior... Heh heh."

"The mirror!" Castiel thinks. He grabs his sword and attacks.

Power shoots at the mirror holding Bandiane.

"Castiel!" calls Dean.

The attack bounces off the mirror, and shoots back at them.

They find themselves in another world, surrounded by prisms of color.

"This..." says Sam. "It's just like... we're inside a kaleidoscope...!"

"Damn!" thinks Dean. "It was reflected! Are we inside Castiel's attack!?"

Xxx

"Castiel... Castiel..."

Castiel looks around.

He sees a man kissing a baby. It was Gabriel.

"Castiel, my son. I'm truly glad you were born."

"Mother!?" Castiel thinks. "Is this a vision... of my birth!?"

"Now, let us celebrate. Everyone, come in!"

Castiel looks around the room, and sees a large mirror on the wall.

"Bandiane's mirror!? Why is it in Gabriel's room!?"

A younger Dean came into the room, with a young Sam.

"Congratulations!"

"I've been waiting for you," says Dean. "Dean, the new guardian of my Castiel

Dean knelt to her.

"I have been eagerly awaiting this time. I shall devote my life to protecting Castiel!"

"Soon, he will grow, and catch up to you," says Dean. "It shall be fun. I wonder what kind of boy he'll become."

People come to Dean, bringing gifts.

"A gift!"

"Congratulations!"

"Here's a gift!"

A dark woman, cloaked in shadow, enters the room.

"I, too, have a gift," she says.

The two Winchesters run between her and the baby.

"For the biggest celebration," Bandiane says, "I was the only one not invited."

Present time, Sam thinking as she now remembers:

"That's right..." thinks Sam. "There was a single uninvited guest. She came trailing black shadows. That was the very inhabitant of the world of darkness!"

"Intruder!" shouts Dean. "Who are you!?"

"Well," says Bandiane. "Even I live here. But I come from the depths of the earth."

"You lie!" says Sam. "You don't live on the earth!"

"That's right!" says Dean. "You crept into this planet in secret, to spread your darkness as an incarnation of bewitching evil!"

"I remember," thinks Dean. "It was enclosed in my memory. What happened on that horrible day. The white light of the moon wasn't yet darkened by a single cloud. There was only peace and happiness. Where they came from, and since when they had been living deep in the moon, nobody noticed. Nobody knew that the power of light was drawing in darkness."

"Uninvited guest," says Dean. "If you are looking for peace, and want to stay, we shall welcome you. But, I shall not allow you to bring the darkness of evil to my son!"

"That's funny," says Bandiane. "You, too, were brought to this planet from far across the galaxy. Are not our origins the same? Dean, the darkness is necessary. If you will simply take my hand... If you will accept the darkness..."

"Stranger!" shouts Dean. "Begone this instant!"

"Where there is light, there is darkness. The darkness calls to the light, and the light shall call to the darkness again!"

Bandiane begins glowing with power, then disappeared into the mirror.

"A present in celebration!" Bandiane says. "That you should receive my beautiful curse! When my curse is fulfilled, your son will die and destroy the dreaming!"

"By Bandiane's curse..." Castiel thinks. "The Dreaming was destroyed!?"

"The Dreaming's sickness is not a curse!" says Dean. "It was destiny! You can't change destiny!"

"Yes..." thinks Sam. "However many tragedies occurred one after another, like dominos, we followed our destiny of destruction. I thought everything was wiped out and reborn, but here there is one piece left!"

"At that time," says Bandiane, "all the light was lost. But I know your have the light I seek!"

A light glowed in Castiel' chest.

"Castiel!?" Patience calls.

The light flies into Bandiane's grasp, and Castiel slumps. "Hahaha!"

Castiel begins coughing up blood.

Kagya runs to him.

"Castiel!"

She starts to hack up blood as well.

"Hahahaha!" says Bandiane. "This is not a dream! You cannot defeat my long, long curse! The Dreaming, will be destroyed now, here! Completely! I finally have it! I will use the soul of the warrior to destroy everything!"

Castiel' soul glows brightly, as Bandiane grows with its power.

"His soul is-!?" gasps Minerva.

Castiel cries out and falls back, his power gone.

"Castiel!"

"Come on, Castiel!" Dean thinks. "If you don't live, Earth and Dreaming won't be saved!"

"I have the power!" says Bandiane. "You are as good as dust! Be destroyed! Now, everything is mine! I have the unbeatable power! Only I am the true ruler!"

"No!" Castiel shouts. He grabs Kaguya's outstretched hand. "Kaguya!"

"Give me strength, Castiel!"

They hold each other and kiss deeply.

"We can't be destroyed here!" Castiel says.

"Right," says Castiel. "We can't give in to this nightmare!"

A sphere of light glows around the two.

Castiel's Soul disappears from Bandiane's hand.

Castiel regains his power as he kisses Kaguya.

"My chest is hot..." Castiel says.

Light shines from Castiel and Kaguya's chests.

"Power is being born, but... I see."

"No, this can't be!" shouts Bandiane.

"Power isn't taken," says Castiel. "It's born. And power isn't born alone. You can't use it alone! I won't lose to anyone! I will show you our power!"

The light shines in his chest as he faces Bandiane.

"Warrior of the Dreaming!?" Bandiane says. "No, damnit!"

Castiel reaches his arms to the sky, as the light shines above him.

The light spreads all around him. The others transformed into their warrior forms.

Four miniature versions of the warriors appear.

"Warrior Claire!"

"Warrior Kaia!"

"Warrior Patience!"

"Warrior Alex!"

They are held in spheres of light, and float into the hands of the soldiers.

"Castiel!? You...!"

Two more small soldiers appear.

"Warrior Dean!"

"Warrior Sam!"

"Warrior Sam! We are your guardians. You are the warriors of the Dreaming."

"Guardians!? The Warriors of the Dreaming!?"

"The time has come for our power to be complete," says Alex.

"Borrow power from the Dreaming," says Dean.

"Give your power to Castiel!" says Patience.

In the light above Castiel, his sword appears, and the light radiates to it.

"Look!" says Sam. "The sword...!"

"The sign of our gathering... That we have always been searching for... The sword...!"

"Everyone!" Castiel shouts. "Give me your power!"

"Send our power to Castiel! Our power, all of it, here!" They shouted.

Castiel transformed into his Warrior form and he was shining with the same light Kaguya had.


	13. Coronation

Kaguya stood in her beautiful kimono as Celestial Maiden of the Dreaming.

She thrusts her arm out, and a glowing sword appears in her hand.

"Our protectors, shining warriors!" she shouts. "Gather your powers!"

Her sword raised in the air and the others weapons gathered around it and joined with it.

The other warriors now in formal clothing watch.

"This is the Maiden's true form!?" thinks Kaia.

They all extended their hands and delivered their power to her weapon.

"If truly," thinks Castiel, "If I have power, I give it to you!"

"Castiel!?" the others call.

All their power flows to Kaguya, a ball of light encircling her.

"All our power! Here, now!"

Castiel sends his power.

Kaguya points her sword out and attacks.

Light blasts at Bandiane. She screams as she shrinks from her giant size. Her body mutates, shedding its form as a woman and changing to a small, wrinkled body.

"Ohhh..." she says. "I... I will always be the beautiful Queen Bandiane."

She stretches her hand toward Castiel as she is sucked down.

"Warrior," she says. "Warrior of the Dreaming, shining with intelligence. I shall take your hand... As the true queen... As the ruler of the matchless power..."

Bandiane's spirit is sucked into the large mirror, and she is sealed inside.

The cage holding Kaguya's soul vanishes.

The giant dark moon over the bunker disappears.

The moon begins to move past the sun.

The spiderwebs formed around the city fades away, leaving the streets clean.

The people of the city awaken.

"Huh? What have I been doing...?"

"I feel like I was sleeping..."

They look into the sky at the moon moving out of the path of the sun.

"That's..."

"An eclipse?"

Patience watches the occurrences through her mirror.

"The surface is returning to normal...!" she says. "The long nightmare of the total solar eclipse... Now, finally, it's passed...!"

"The long, long nightmare..." thinks Kaguya. "Now it's finally over."

Xxx

The cage fades away, leaving the body of Kaguya lying alone on the ground. Her soul joins with her body and she begins to stir.

"Kaguya!?" says Castiel.

He goes to the body.

"Kaguya?"

He kneels and leans toward her.

"Kaguya... Wake up... Please, please..."

A tear drops from he eye as he bends down and kisses her.

"Wake up..."

A light glows from his hands and heals Kaguya.

Kaguya opens her eyes, and sees Castiel looking down at her.

"Castiel...?" she says. "Why... are you crying? My warrior."

"I'm happy," Castiel says, holding his hand to her face. "You woke up, I'm so happy, and tears are coming out."

"That light..." she says. "Your powers have been reborn, my warrior. And that power led me to awaken."

She follows Castiel, running out of the shrine, and she sees the green land of Dreaming, alive once more. The lake sparkles in the sunlight, and flowers bloom all around.

"Kaguya!" says Sam.

"Everyone...!" Kaguya says. "Thanks to Castiel, the Dreaming was healed. This weapon is yours."

She handed him a blade.

Castiel holds out her sword at the large mirror, and Kaguya held out her own sword.

They draw the evil from the mirror, and raise it into the sky, where it is destroyed by the light.

They reappear in the park outside the Bunker, where it all began.

"Please, take care of yourselves," says Kaguya. "I will continue my prayers for your safety in Dreaming. And for you, my warrior Castiel."

"Kaguya," says Castiel.. "I'll see you again, right?"

"Yes, my warrior. I will be in your dreams, and I will eagerly await the day when I can meet you again. Eagerly."

"Kaguya! We will! I'll go to see you again!"

Kaguya stepped into a white mirror and vanished.

"Someday in the future..." thinks Castiel. "When I've become a real warrior... So Kaguya can be my Celestial Maiden."

Tears well in his eyes.

"Well, let's go!" Patience, Kaia, Claire, and Alex chorused.

"We'll see Kaguya again for sure." Sam comforted.

"Until then, you can hone your skill as a man, right, Castiel?" Dean smirked.

Castiel gave him a look.

"_Right_," he thinks, smiling. _"So my many dreams will come true, for now, even though I'm not yet an adult, I have to work through it!"_

"Amazing," says Castiel aloud. "Even though the battle's over, I feel a warmth in my heart. Just like a star has been born in my heart. So this is the power I have been given."

"Castiel," says Sam knowingly. "All of us, everyone, have stars in our hearts."

"Stars?"

"Yes. And that warmth in your heart is a sign that your star is shining."

The others look at Castiel. He said nothing but thought inside his mind.

_"So that my dreams can come true, so I can protect the ones I love, so I can fight, please, star in my heart. Shine your light, and give me strength!"_


End file.
